The FIFA scandal that has rocked the world of soccer and sports politics continued apace yesterday with the release of testimony from Chuck Blazer, one of the key witnesses on the road to the indictments that have ultimately brought down FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
He confessed in a New York court in 2013 to having taken bribes and facilitated others in the awarding of a variety of World Cup tournaments broadcasting and marketing rights over nearly two decades.
Unnamed law enforcement sources also said off the record that the investigation of awarding the World Cup stretched back as far as USA ’94 and were running all the way through to Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022.
The echoes to notorious organised crime trials, which always break over the code of silence being broken from within are obvious, and the implications of what is and will continue to emerge are breathtaking.
It is especially so when you consider that eight days ago the lid was still firmly on the whatever may have gone on within world soccer over the last 20 years.
Blazer himself is a colourful character. The pictures above are taken from his personal blog which highlighted his journeys around the world as President of the CONCACAF region and FIFA Executive Committee member. You really couldn’t make up most of what his lifestyle was.
Now though he is reported to be in hospital, barely able to speak and the advance of whatever ultimate trials may emerge could yet have to rely on previously recorded testimony as opposed to having him on the stand.
Sponsors including VISA and Coca Cola were quick yesterday to press for a clean up of the game. Blatter’s departure solves a big dilemma for them.
To have resigned as they were being urged might have left them as having been involved in ‘dark days’ while their successors would be painted as white knights.
And there would be successors. World Cup sponsorship is about more than awareness. The revenue it generates for the brands involved on a global level make it a very beneficial, albeit staggeringly large, investment.
The stories will continue to come and serious questions are already being asked in wider circles of banking and accountancy over how this whole situation could have gone unexposed for so long.
Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business appeared on UTV Ireland and the Last Word last night to discuss the story and its implications.
